Lone Wolf
by Morietachibana
Summary: "It's hard being on your own, especially when you know what it's like to have someone with you there's a gaping chasm left where that person used to be. It hurts when you look back comparing how your life was to how it is. But then you meet new people who can help fill that void. Like a jigsaw puzzle they help you become whole again…"
1. The Story Begins

AN: My first Fanfic, I've been planning this for a few years, I just haven't had the courage but now I think my writing style is good enough and I think I'm ready, so here goes and I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters these all belong to Eiichiro Oda, however I do own all of my OCs (Note: This disclaimer is for all of the chapters of this story)

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

A young woman crouched behind a bush, waiting for a boat to come into the harbour. Her breath was coming out in short pants, muscles tense and ready to run at any signs of danger, every movement of a branch was a pursuer every rustle of a leaf was the sound of someone's clothes as they crept up behind her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't relax her survival instincts were running wild, blaring at her to run to get as far away as possible.

It was only a few minutes later that she was able to calm her heartbeat, and her head cleared starting to think of plans, only then did the exhaustion hit her with such a blow that she had lean against a nearby tree to steady herself. Turning away from watching the harbour, she fell back against the tree with a tired sigh, her thought process started to slow itself down as the sounds of the forest lulled her into a doze. The feel of vibrations next to her, made the woman shoot up into a crouch her teeth bared and a growl coming from her chest, she looked around for the attacker but instead found a very frightened rabbit, it was frozen in place with wide eyes watching the woman's every movement. It flinched when she chuckled, slowly the woman sat back down reclining against the tree once again, the rabbit gave another twitch when she started to talk to it "_Sorry little fella I thought you were something else" _the rabbit tilted its head to the side still staring at the woman in front of him. Suddenly it scuttled backwards when the realisation hit him _"Y-you spoke in our tongue, but you- then that must mean you're- wow" _the rabbits sentence came out as tumble of words, his surprise taking away his ability to form a coherent sentence.

The woman gave another chuckle _"I am indeed, again I apologise for frightening you" _she replied except instead of words a series of snarls could be heard. Just then the woman's head whipped around as she heard the noise of human voices glancing backwards she found that the rabbit had run away at the sound of the voices. This time the woman made sure to keep quiet as the source of the voices turned out to be a crew of traders who had just docked at the harbour. _'Looks like that's my ticket off the island,' _she looked over her shoulder again into the forest _'I hope they won't miss me too much, at least they'll be okay' _at that thought she smiled, she'd done as much as she possibly could for them it was time for her to move on.

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It had been a long voyage for Speranza, but she along with her cargo had finally made it to the island. Her crew were glad to be on land again, the trip should have only been a few months long, but the freak storm they experienced near the beginning had sent them completely off track.

After they had finished unloading the cargo, the crew headed to the local tavern for a well-earned drink, one of the crew felt a presence as if something was watching them; falling behind slightly as he slowed his pace, the crewmember looked behind him checking if anything was there. Seeing nothing, he shrugged it off as weariness from the long voyage and went to catch up with the others. His suspicions had been right, with the crews backs turned a black furred creature crept from the treeline to where the ship was docked.

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On the deck of the Speranza, the woman gave out a relieved sigh, _'Too close!'_ She had to take a few seconds to make her body stop trembling. Afterwards, she gave the ship a quick once over checking that no one was on the ship anymore, and then she made her way to the cargo hold seeking out a place to hide. She found a place in between two crates; the shadows they created were a perfect hiding place. She crawled into it and settled down waiting for the arrival at the next island.

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Finally, the crew had returned to their home island, as soon as they docked everyone made their way home keen to see their families again, they would have a month's rest and then they would do the voyage all over again. When the last member of the crew was off the ship the woman slowly crept off, looking left and right to make sure no one was watching once she was sure no one was she made her way into the bustling town. First stop was to a clothes shop.

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Walking into the shop the woman looked around, the store wasn't large but it had plenty of clothes it seemed as if whoever owned the shop had taken advantage of every available bit of space, she couldn't even see the counter from the door. It took her a few minutes to traverse the maze of clothing racks but eventually she found the till where a young man with brown slicked back hair, as soon as she saw the man her steps faltered "E-e-excuse me, c-c-could you help me p-p-pick out some clothing?" she asked unable to stop herself from stuttering .

The man smiled at her warmly "It would be my pleasure, what do you have in mind?" he answered, confused at the woman's change in demeanour. When she'd entered the shop she gave off an aura of confidence, but as soon as she saw him that seemed to disappear, like a blazing fire being reduced to a dwindling flame. "Errm…a few t-shirts, shirts, vests and maybe a few jeans and leggings…. And umm do you have any cloaks with hoods?" she asked, not meeting his eyes it was taking all she had not to leave the shop. The man's smile grew a little "I'll see what I can get for you, don't worry you don't have to do anything." He tried to sound reassuring, used to all kinds of customers; he then walked out from behind the counter and started searching through all of the rails of clothing. The woman stayed silent as he searched keeping her gaze on the area where she could hear him moving around. A while later, the man had finished gathering clothes and went back behind the counter putting the clothes on the top, "It's more than you asked for but it doesn't look like you've got much else." he looked up at her, a smile on his face.

Taking a breath in and out, the woman smiled back "Thank you, I appreciate it."

The man added up the total cost of the clothes and the woman paid him the exact amount, but just as she was about to exit the shop the man called out appearing next to her "I would put that hood up if I was you, you never know what's carried on the wind"

The only response he received was a slight nod of her head before she lifted the hood to cover her crimson hair, then she was gone out of the door and into the crowded street.

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_'That's going to happen a lot isn't it?' _it was something for her to work on, but it was going to take a long time. Looking around, she decided on her next stop, _'a log pose would be a good idea, and then I need to find another boat'._ She found a store that sold navigation items, this time the shop was run by a woman, giving the shop owner a wary glance the woman proceeded to look around the small shop until she found a log pose, which she picked up and took to the counter. Looking up at the cloaked woman the shopkeeper narrowed her eyes "Are you another one of those pesky pirates? Come to rob me have you?" asked the shopkeeper the venom clear in her voice.

Giving a resigned sigh the cloaked woman pulled back her hood so that her face was no longer in shadow "I assure you I'm not one of those 'pesky pirates', I simply wish to purchase this," at this she held up the log pose "and then be on my way." Still wary of the woman the shopkeeper said the price and the woman handed over the correct amount of money. "If you aren't a pirate, then what are you exactly?" questioned the shopkeeper the venom now replaced with curiosity "I'm simply a passing traveller. Thank you for your time." With that said the woman headed out of the shop.

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It was while she was wandering around on the streets when she learnt that the city she was currently in was called Loguetown also known as the town of the beginning and the end _'I wonder what will happen to me now Roger…" _Her musings were interrupted when she heard footsteps approach from behind her accompanied with an overwhelming smell of smoke; she turned round to face the newcomer raising her hand to cover her nose. It was a tall male wearing a thick white coat and a pair of blue jeans, around his waist was a brown belt, with a jitte attached to his back. The source of the scent was the two cigars he had in his mouth _'White Chase Smoker a marine captain…shit!'. _Unseen to Smoker the woman had started to sweat, her body shaking, and her senses were on high alert ready for action.

Smoker decided to break the silence "So you're the mysterious cloaked woman that people have reported seeing around the city. What are your motives for going to Grandline?"

_'Dammit I should've been more careful.' _The words of the man at the clothes shop played in her head _"You never know what the wind might carry."_ Trying to keep herself calm the woman straightened her posture and put as much confidence into her voice as she could "Well, well Smoker-san it seems you are well informed, as for your question I have nowhere else to go" she answered hoping her act was working.

Smoker's temper was wearing thin, he had had a long day and now this woman wasn't making it any shorter "I will ask you again what do you intend to do by going to the Grand line? Piracy by any chance?" his voice was more of a growl now. This made the woman flinch, but to Smoker it looked like she was preparing to attack so he took out his jitte and ran forward before she could do anything. Beneath her hood, the woman's eyes widened and she took a step back, her fear made her body freeze up. Smoker came to an abrupt halt when a warning snarl came out of the woman's mouth, recognising the sound his eyes narrowed, and the area around the pair seemed to drop a few degrees.

_'He knows!' _Thinking quickly the woman punched out her hand sending a blast of air at the marine, she then jumped up using the wind to increase her speed as she leapt from roof to roof. She headed for the direction she could smell the sea was coming from. Thankfully, some things seemed to be going in her favour, she could see the sea wasn't very far away.

After the gust of wind died down, Smoker lowered his arm from shielding his face and realised that the woman had gone.

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Coming out of her daze Tashigi called out to her Captain "Sir! She went that way!" pointing towards the direction the woman had just gone. Turning his lower half into smoke, Smoker set off in the direction the woman was headed. Soon after his departure, Tashigi herself set off after the woman and Smoker.

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Looking behind her the cloaked woman could see the marine captain catching up to her, _'Damn it this isn't good! I didn't know he could do that!' _The woman quickly turned her head back to facing forwards and carried on running, a mix of fear and determination driving her to travel faster.

"Here it is!" The girl exclaimed as she finally landed at the docks, she made the last dash to the sea.

"No! No! No! No!" Smoker kept on repeating to himself as a mantra when he saw the girl jump down into the harbour, now really pushing himself he put on a short burst of speed making himself zoom into the harbour right on the tail of the cloaked woman.

The woman, heard some noise behind her and turned her head to be met with the sight of a very angry looking Smoker right on her tail _'Shit… He's nearly caught up to me,' _sparing a quick glance towards the sea the girl tried to judge the distance between her and freedom _'will I be able to make it?!' _

Barely feet behind the girl now Smoker carried on his pursuit determined not to lose the girl for a second time _'No one gets past me, especially not criminals like her!' _Truly, living up to his name 'White Chase' Smoker chased after the girl not falling behind for a fraction of a second.

The girl finally made it to the edge of the harbour and was about to give one last jump onto the sea, finally reaching her freedom but the Marine Captain had closed the gap between them and was mere inches away from catching her.

The woman pushed the wind from in front of her to her back giving her an extra burst of speed; Smoker pushed himself to his absolute limits and sped up as fast as he could go. The woman jumped and the Marine Captain reached out to grab her.

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><p>Well that's it chapter 1, please review I would love to know what you think any constructive critism is appreciated as I would really like to improve my writing skills. Thank you for reading and I hope you would like to follow me on this journey!<p>

Morie


	2. An Unfortunate Situation

Chapter 2-An Unfortunate Situation

Smoker cursed, he'd been so close, in fact her cloak was in his hands. He looked up at the woman who was now too far away for him to pursue, her red hair waving in the wind as if it were taunting him as it trailed behind her. Gritting his teeth, he swore to himself that this would be the last time he let a criminal get away.

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That had been too close, the woman tried to calm her wildly beating heart as the island gradually faded into the distance. She was really pushing herself now, the short nap she'd had on the ship to Loguetown wasn't enough to get rid of the overwhelming fatigue, these past few months she hadn't allowed her body to rest as she was desperate to get back into shape. Now her head was starting to feel fuzzy and the only thing keeping her awake was her fear and the wind that was blowing into her face. _'When I get to the next island, that's when I can let myself rest' _with that decision made the woman made the wind push at her back even more, making her speed accelerate.

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Finally, after many hours of running across the calm belt and then the Grandline the shape of an island was visible on the horizon. There had been many close calls when the woman had lost her footing on the water and had to swim against the wild currents of Grandline. She only just managed to do this by bending the water around her but even then it was a great struggle and the energy required to do so was very taxing on the woman. No longer was she running, but instead slowly walking, one foot in front of the other left foot then right foot, left, right, left, right, left-. Suddenly, the woman's foot touched solid ground, which caused her to let out a gleeful laugh. _'Not much longer now.' _Staggering now the woman made her way across the shore and into the forest nearby. Once she was quite away in the woman found a tree, which was hollow at the base, this is where she let herself collapse into finally letting her body and mind rest.

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(One day earlier)

Crocodile needed someone who could read a poneglyph, that's why he'd struck a deal with that _woman_. But there was a small problem; the poneglyph that he wanted was locked away without anyway to gain access. Eleven years ago, Crocodile wouldn't have had this predicament as there were plenty of people around that could have opened the chamber where the poneglyph was kept, but now there was only one he could think of that would be able to do that, even then that person had disappeared off the face of the earth a few years ago. Crocodile's Den-den mushi started to ring, so he picked up the receiver to answer the call "What is it?" his tone matched the irritation he was feeling at that moment.

The person at the other end of the line took a few seconds to answer as he was thrown off by Crocodile's tone "B-boss, there's been a sighting of _that woman _reports say she's headed to the Grandline and in the direction she was going in, she should end up on Chikuri Island." The informant had just made Crocodile's day, after hearing the information a cruel smirk formed on his face.

Slamming down the receiver Crocodile called out for his assistant "Ms. All Sunday!"

Normally someone would come running to Crocodile when called, but the woman whom Crocodile had just referred to as Miss All Sunday took her time in approaching the Shichibukai knowing that even if he wanted to injure her he couldn't because his greed overruled his temper. Anyway, the man was far too intelligent to allow himself to be riled up by his 'assistant'. "You called, Mr.0?" the woman stopped just before the warlord's desk her voice coming out with a mocking curious tone.

Ignoring the woman's games Crocodile looked her right in the eyes with that cruel, twisted smile back on his face "I need you to go and pick up somebody from Chikuri Island, a new recruit for our organisation." He ordered and just when Miss. All Sunday was about to open her mouth to question who, Crocodile pushed a wanted poster across the desk for her to see. On it was a picture of a small child with red hair and fearful eyes, underneath it, it said "Wanted dead or alive: 'Hellhound' Chieko 100,000,000 Beli". Without saying a word, Miss All Sunday nodded her head and went out of the room. A few minutes later, she was already on the back of a turtle, on her way to pick up the new recruit.

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(Back to present time- on Chikuri Island)

She didn't know how many hours she had been unconscious for but now that she had fully rested her mind was clear and her senses were back to normal, this being said the woman could smell that someone was nearby, she shifted ever so slightly getting her body into a better position for pouncing on whoever was there. But as soon as she moved, the scent of the person came right up to her mouth and something restrained her pinning her down onto the ground meaning she was unable to move any further. Her eyes shot open, searching for the person that held her captive and trying to figure out what was pinning her down, her mind was confused as her nose was telling her that the person was a few feet away, but at the same time they were right beside her. First, she looked down at her body and saw that several disembodied arms were pinning her to the ground, then she looked up and saw a woman sitting on a log, the red haired woman observed the other woman. She had black shoulder length hair, a much-defined nose and blue eyes with strangely large pupils. The black haired woman's lips were quirked in a smile that made the red haired growl, her teeth bared.

"My, my you are a feisty one…. Chieko-San." The dark haired woman said, her chin now resting on her palm as she crossed her legs, waiting to see how her captive would respond to her knowledge.

The red haired woman, identified as Chieko stopped growling to smirk at the woman "Well Robin-san, I think you would react the same way if you were in my position, no?" this time it was Chieko's turn to wait for a response from her captor.

But again, there weren't any signs of surprise from either women, although inside Chieko was panicking slightly, wondering what the hell Nico Robin wanted with her. Chieko couldn't help but jump when the arms trapping her disappeared in a flurry of cherry blossom petals, looking down at her body to check that she could now move freely. Chieko got up slowly, keeping her eyes on Robin, she may know the woman's name and the woman may know hers but that's no reason for Chieko to trust Robin yet.

Robin almost laughed at the other woman's caution, but she couldn't blame the younger woman waking up to someone restraining you tends to make you wary around the person that trapped you. "You are probably wondering why I am here and why I have sought you out, ne?" she asked.

Robin got up suddenly and she started to approach Chieko. The red haired woman didn't like this and she started to growl the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, with each step Robin made Chieko's growls increased in volume. All of a sudden, a gust of wind broke through the clearing making Robin close her eyes for a second. When she opened them and the wind died down, and she looked back down to see the growling woman was replaced with a black wolf, its teeth bared in a warning snarl. But instead of being afraid, Robin smiled "It appears my theory is correct, the World Government claimed that werewolves became extinct 11 years ago, but they missed one didn't they… 'Hellhound' Chieko, the lone wolf." Although Robin's tone was mocking throughout her speech she struggled to fight down the guilt for saying those words, however years of practice helped sustain the icy mask present on her face.

The wolf's snarling stopped abruptly, shocked into silence. Slowly, Chieko lowered her tail in between her legs her act of confidence now cracked she let out a whine before shifting back into her human form. And again, Robin was faced with the 5'10 red haired woman, her grey-blue eyes glaring at the black haired woman "You were right, I am curious as to why you sought me out." She said her voice, edgy betraying the emotions that whirled around inside.

"I've been told to collect you; it seems you have caught the interest of a certain Crocodile," Robin noted the tensing of Chieko's body before continuing "the organisation Baroque Works needs your assistance and Crocodile ordered that I take you by force if necessary, it's your choice." To be honest Robin didn't think it was much of a choice and she saw that Chieko agreed with her judging by the crestfallen look in the red haired woman's eyes.

_'I was so close! So close but now-'_Chieko cut that trail of thought short, life _really_ hated her, when she tasted sweet freedom it was snatched away leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. Giving a sigh of defeat, Chieko looked up at Robin and then transformed into a wolf. She walked over to Robin stopping at her side. Chieko then glanced up at Robin waiting for the older woman to lead the way.

Getting the message, Robin started to walk back to where she had left Bunchi, checking behind her to see that Chieko was trotting alongside her. "By the way Chieko-san, I'd rather you called me Miss All Sunday from now on, you will be given a codename once you have met with Crocodile." She informed the lycanthrope, Chieko simply grunted in reply.

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They sat in silence on top of Bunchi as he swam back to Alabasta, when Miss All-Sunday and Chieko arrived at Bunchi, Chieko refused to transform instead staying as a wolf and she only stopped for a few seconds before jumping on to the giant turtles shell and laying down at the front.

Chieko was dwelling on what was going to happen to her now, when she had entered the Grandline, no plan of what she was going to do was made. Even so, Chieko wanted to have a new start; no more running or hiding from anything and no more living in fear of tomorrow, she wanted to actually live and see the world through her eyes not the images her mind created from listening to and reading stories about the wonders of the world. Instead, here she was heading towards Alabasta, and she would be forced to work under someone again, to make it even worse, she didn't know how long for or what she was meant to do. All Chieko could do was wait until her and her travelling companion arrived at their destination.

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Miss All Sunday watched the wolf as they travelled across the Grandline, the way that its ears were erect and its tail swishing from side to side showed that Chieko was anxious, she noted that the younger woman's emotions were more apparent when she was a wolf.

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Alabasta had been in their sights for a few hours now and it should only take Bunchi twenty minutes to reach the shore. Miss All Sunday couldn't help the twitch of her arms when the wolf stood up abruptly, looking down at Chieko as the wolf's ears swivelled back and flattened themselves against her head, the older woman could tell that something was up and looking up towards the shore she could tell what or rather who it was. There standing on the dock was Crocodile, his coat billowing out behind him in the wind "That Chieko-san is our boss." Miss All Sunday said her voice indifferent and her face not showing any emotion.

Chieko stayed in the position she was in her head lowered and tail straight, almost in between her hind legs. _"I can see that," _she snarled at the older woman _"it doesn't mean I like it, and I don't think you do either." _Chieko lifted her head to look at the woman standing behind her, trying to tell what she was feeling but it was impossible to know, as Miss All Sunday's face was a perfect emotionless mask.

When Bunchi was a few metres away from reaching the docking platform Chieko shifted back into a human and stood upright, her fists clenched _'Calm Chieko, calm. This is it, there's no point in getting upset now. You have more freedom in this situation.' _Admittedly, it wasn't the most freedom in the world but it was better than the place she was in two and a half years ago, she would just have to put on a brave face and deal with it. The memory of a distant childhood came to mind:

_A young boy with brown hair and eyes to match stood in front of Chieko the two five year olds were in a clearing in the forest, the boy had his head bowed trying to hide the tears that fell down his face. "Riku…" Chieko said concerned, at hearing her voice Riku's fists clenched and he raised his head to look at her "Why can't I have two like you?! All I have is stupid water!" Chieko frowned she didn't like it when her best friend cried, it wasn't uncommon but she never knew what to do because she was one of the reasons he got so frustrated. The problem was that the with her species you could either bend one element or two, people who could bend one element had better control than the dual benders who had one major element and a minor element, their major element was easier to control than the minor element. Chieko was a dual bender, she could bend wind and water however Riku could only bend one element water, this wasn't a bad thing but Riku always felt jealous of the dual bender._

_"Riku~! You're really good with water, even better than some of the grown-ups!" She said unable to comprehend his jealousy, she was always envious of his abilities she was nowhere near that good with wind even though it was her major element. _

_"But-"Riku tried to carry on, but he stopped when Chieko put her finger over his mouth shutting him up._

_"No, you're not allowed to put yourself down, if you don't believe in yourself, then you don't believe in me because I believe in you!" This was followed by a pout forming on her face, which was soon replaced by a grin when Riku gave her a watery smile._

_"Sorry Chieko, it's just really annoying." Riku gave Chieko a huge grin helping to erase the sombre atmosphere, suddenly Riku transformed into a wolf only the size of a pup and tackled Chieko to the ground who also turned into a wolf and they both started play fighting. After, a few minutes, the five year olds transformed back into humans and stood up laughing hard. It took a few seconds for the both of them to calm down but when they did Chieko turned to Riku and said "Remember, chin up, back straight-" "And smile!" finished Riku this sent the two children into another fit of laughter, this saying always helped them to cheer up'_

As the bittersweet memory played in her head, Chieko performed the actions that her five-year-old self had said. It had been 14 years since then and at 19 years old Chieko had changed considerably, she no longer did she grin and it was a rarity to see her laugh. _'I wonder what you would have been like if you were still here Riku.' _It was a struggle to get her face to smile but after a bit of effort she managed to put on a small smile.

Upon reaching the dock, Miss All Sunday and Chieko stepped off Bunchi and made their way over to where Crocodile was standing. When they were near enough Crocodile's face twisted into a cruel smirk, he turned to address the black haired woman with a mocking tone "I see you were successful with your mission, you do have some use after all." He didn't receive any outward reaction from her, but Crocodile knew she didn't like the word "use". It seemed their new recruit didn't like his wording either as she had frowned slightly at the word. _'Interesting' _thought Crocodile filing this piece of information into the back of his mind for later use. It was a several seconds before Crocodile spoke again, but it wasn't any better than his first comment.

"I know what to call you… Tolk, you will be my interpreter." Chieko only nodded at this, inside of her the blossoming flower of hope wilted.

**AN:** Thank you so much for reading this, next chapter the actual plot of the story will begin! I hope you will follow me along this journey, I'm as nervous as I am excited.

I'd like to say thank you to LordDioBrando for the follow.

Please review I would love some constructive criticism as my writing may have improved but I have a long way to go.

Oh! Just one more thing next chapter will be a three-year time skip.

Thanks again! See you!


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